Liberal Arts Services

The State of the Comedia Suelta: Celebrating the Texas Collections

The State of the Comedia Suelta: Celebrating the Texas CollectionsSeptember 29-30, 2014

The Universiy of Texas' Collection of Comedias Sueltas and Spanish Theater, at the Harry Ransom Center, contains more than 15,000 titles spanning over three centuries. Cataloging of these titles, along with the approximately 600 comedias sueltas in the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives at Texas A&M University, has been funded by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives. Publication dates of items in the collections range from 1603 to the late 1930s. Over 2,500 different authors have been identified; about ten percent of these are women writers. The majority of these plays were published post mid-19th century; and most of these originate in Madrid, followed by Barcelona. Several hundred were published in smaller cities in Spain and in Latin America. Most of the over 2,000 translations included in the collection are from the French followed by Italian and English, with some German and Catalan. Also included in the Texas Collection are over 200 romances de ciego, one of the earliest examples of an ephemeral literature intended for mass public distribution.

The conference, which will be held at the Ransom Center on September 29 and 30, 2014, will bring together scholars in various fields to share their work and to celebrate the completion of the cataloging of the collections.

Sharon Feldman, University of Richmond. “Àngel Guimerà’s Maria Rosa: From Barcelona to Broadway and the Silver Screen.”

Donald Buck, Auburn University. “ ‘You mean there are a lot of these comedias sueltas in the library?’: Recollections and Remarks on the Ransom Center Collection.” (Read by Cory Reed, University of Texas at Austin)

BREAK

11:00 – 12:15 Session IV: Special Collections

Chair: Marilén Loyola, University of Texas at Austin

David R. Whitesell, University of Virginia Library. "Analytical Bibliography and the Comedia Suelta: The Orga Series of Comedias Sueltas as a Case Study."

David Fernández, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. “Bibliographical Notes: the Milton A. Buchanan Collection of Spanish Drama.”

Madeline Sutherland-Meier, University of Texas at Austin. “Romances de Ciego and Related Genres of Literatura de Cordel in the Ransom Center Collection.”

12:15 General discussion, wrap up

12:45 Closing Lunch

Organizing Committee:

Victor Arizpe, Texas A&M University

Cory Reed, University of Texas at Austin

Madeline Sutherland-Meier, University of Texas at Austin

José Villalobos, Texas A&M University

The organizers would like to extend special thanks to Jeff Becker, Sam Cannon, Robert DeSimone, Mary Kleba, Carolyn Newsom, Russell Podgorsek, and Danielle Sigler for their help.

We are also very grateful to our sponsors whose support has made this conference possible:

The Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese, The University of Texas at Austin

The Department of Hispanic Studies, Texas A&M University

The Butler School of Music, The University of Texas at Austin

The Oscar G. Brockett Center for Theatre History and Criticism, The University of Texas at Austin